Though they were frozen for a whole twelve years, the swedes Evocation belong to the first generation of melodic death metal bands and, since their return on 2006 the band has been proving that they’re a force to be reckon within this genre. Guitar player Marko Palmén has been part of Evocation since its beginning in 1991 and spoke to us about the present and the past of his band and has also took us for a dive in the History of the Swedish Metal Scene.
Your fifth studio album “The Shadow Archetype” is out, four years after “Illusions of Grandeur”, and I’ve noticed that your sound is more pounding than in the previous release. What can you tell us about the new album?
We always try to do something new with each and every album and this time was no different. I mean there is no point for us in doing the same album over and over again. For “The Shadow Archetype” we had some line-up changes. We lost Janne (drums) and Vesa (lead guitars) who were part of the original line-up and also vital parts of the songwriting for Evocation. However we made a really great recruitment for the lead guitar position when we got Simon Exner (As You Drown) to join in. Simon is a relative of mine so I have practically known him since he was a small kid and he has been a friend of Evocation since many years back. He is a great guitar player and songwriter so it was a natural choice for us to turn to him for the lead guitar position. Simon is very much into new school death metal and I’m more into old school death metal and somehow we just merged those two worlds in the songwriting for the new Evocation album. And the end result became “The Shadow Archetype”, an album I think we can stand proud of in the future to come. The orientation of the new album is quite more brutal compared to earlier albums and a step towards our roots in death metal although there are as I said new elements which also have a belonging in the present.
Per Møller Jensen played as session drummer during the recording process. How did this collaboration come to happen?
Per’s drumming has always been an influence for Evocation since his days with The Haunted but it was a bit of a coincidence that we got him to play on the new Evocation album. When we were practically done with the writing of the new album we saw a Facebook post by Per saying that he was looking for session work and at the moment we were looking for a drummer for the album so we just contacted him. Per was immediately interested in doing the drums for “The Shadow Archetype”. After that we just sent him the demo tracks for the album and he prepared himself in Copenhagen, Denmark where he lives. Then we met for the first time in June 2015 in Gothenburg when we were going to record the drum tracks at Crehate Studios together with studio engineer Oscar Nilsson. Per was extremely easy and professional to work with and his drumming on the album really raised the level on the tracks. And not to forget he was also a really nice guy to hang with and we all had a great week together when we recorded the drums. Huge thanx to Per for his contribution on “The Shadow Archetype”!
Do you already have a drummer assigned for live shows?
Yeah, we already have a drummer who we are working with but we haven’t gone public with it yet so we are going to keep it a secret for a while more… All I can say is that it is an extremely talented guy that we really like and that we are sure will raise the level of Evocation as a band in the future!
You also changed Century Media for Metal Blade Records as your label. What made this change and how are things getting along with the new label?
The contract with Century Media ended and when we started working with the new album we just said that we will finish the album completely before we contact any label and show the new material. The reason why we wanted to work with Metal Blade Records is for the first because it’s the best independent extreme metal label in the world. We all just love the label and their roster of bands. And second we have also previously worked together with Metal Blade when they released our first three albums on a licensing deal in the US and Canada. The co-operation has worked perfectly and last but not least there is also a really old friend of the band at the European office of Metal Blade. Andreas Reissnauer is his name and he had a record label back in the early 90s and in 1992 he actually distributed our very first demo “The Ancient Gate”. So for us it feels like we have closed the circle when we signed the deal with Metal Blade. We are working with friends of the band and for us that was perhaps the most important factor when we signed with them. I can say for sure that we won’t have anymore record label in the future. We will end our career with Metal Blade Records.
How are the tour dates for “The Shadow Archetype” coming up? Can we in Portugal expect a visit from Evocation?
At the moment we have only a releaseparty show in our hometown in the pipeline which we will announce in a few days. We will try and do a tour in the autumn if all works out and we will of course also try and do as many festivals as possible, but at the moment we don’t have anything booked. Portugal would of course be awesome to play. We have actually never played in Portugal so it would be very prioritized for us to play there on this album if the opportunity would come up.
The Swedish Death Metal scene is one of the most enduring and active scenes in the Metal Universe. Evocation comes from the early times of this movement, and you have seen a lot, so can you tell us one of the most remarkable moments that you’ve experienced in the history of the band or of the Swedish Scene?
One of the most cool places from the early 90s Death Metal scene was the underground club Valvet in Gothenburg. I would say that much of the entire Death Metal scene in the Gothenburg area circled around that club. Evocation did several shows there together with really cool bands such as Ceremonial Oath, Master etc. And we attended many shows there as well with bands such as Carcass, At The Gates, Grotesque etc. I remember one occasion very well though. All the members from Evocation were at Valvet to attend a show with Edge Of Sanity but unfortunately they had to cancel. Still haven’t got a clue why they had to cancel that show. But anyway the organizer knew that all of the Evocation members were there so he asked if Evocation could jump in as the headliner for that evening. We just said that; “Give us a case of beer and we will take care of it!” And it turned out to be one of our best shows ever… The crowd was just crazy and we managed to get it all on tape as well! Cool memories from the past that one remembers with great pleasure.
What are your thoughts on the current times of Swedish Metal?
I would say that the Swedish Metal scene is quite healthy and vital at the moment, especially when it comes to the extreme metal scene. There are lots of bands that are quite successful and the regrowth of new bands is good. Some years ago I would say that the scene was in a quiet bad shape. The main thing was more hard rock and the situation for the extreme metal bands was tough. I would say that the scene has shifted over in Sweden the last few years in favor of the extreme metal scene and now the situation is as it should be!
Evocation was put on hold for about twelve years until the comeback in the last decade. There was a lot of promising death metal bands from the beginning of the nineties that never had the opportunity (or the will) to get back to action. What band(s) would you like to see “returning from the dead” to take the recognition they deserve?
I would personally love to see a Carnage reunion. One of my absolutely favorite bands from the early 90s and I never had a chance to see them live. I doubt it will ever happen but if it would, it would be a dream comes true…
Published in Portuguese, on Ultraje Magazine, here:
https://ultraje.pt/evocation-entrevista-2017/
TIAGO NEVES 